Takashi Murakami. <i>Under the Radiation Falls</i>

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Video

Guide

"Radiation and Postwar Anime and Tokusatsu Culture" by Ryūsuke Hikawa

<p class="text__lead">During the preparation of <em>Under the Radiation Falls</em> Takashi Murakami&rsquo;s team installing the exhibition talked to Garage about their work and the show.</p>
<p class="text__lead"><img src="//cdn-ec-static.garagemca.org/storage/tinymce_asset/1/6/1669/file-9cbbcb7b-a182-440f-a065-d6211b8c5705.jpg" alt="" width="1327" height="885" /></p>
<h2 class="text__nomargin">Fumito Kobayashi</h2>
<p class="text__muted text__small">Rideaworks Inc.</p>
<p>When I worked with Murakami&rsquo;s Kaikai Kiki Gallery in Tokyo for the first time, I succeeded in pasting the prints onto the wall very neatly, perfectly straight. That day Murakami visited the gallery and left without saying a word. Later they told me that his silence was the greatest sign of appreciation.</p>
<p>After that job, Murakami invited me to work at the exhibition <em>Louis Vuitton: A Passion Of Creation</em> at Hong Kong Museum of Art in 2009, and then to other shows across the world: Versailles, Doha, London, Chicago. I was very nervous on my way to Moscow, because the prints for Garage were the biggest we&rsquo;ve ever worked with.</p>
<p><img src="//cdn-ec-static.garagemca.org/storage/tinymce_asset/compressed_Fumito1.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067" /></p>
<p>We receive Murakami&rsquo;s sketches, prepare them for print and print them on a large format printer. We print them in very high resolution. We have a team of fifteen people. We print on wallpaper, film for glass, and other materials.</p>
<p>Usually we only have small surfaces to cover at Murakami&rsquo;s exhibitions, but at Garage we are covering walls, ceilings and windows. This time we&rsquo;ve printed a lot of things. We have prints on metallic film and transparent film for glass, as well as on sheets that have the texture of Japanese leaf-gold. This is the only place in the world where you can see such things.</p>
<hr />
<p class="text__lead"><img src="//cdn-ec-static.garagemca.org/storage/tinymce_asset/1/6/1671/file-b67f853e-0e7f-4656-b4ce-94f293d9776c.jpg" alt="" width="1327" height="885" /></p>
<h2 class="text__nomargin">Tomoko Sugimoto</h2>
<p class="text__muted text__small">Painting Consultant, Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., New York</p>
<p>I first met Takashi when I had already been helping at his studio for half-a-year. At the time I was a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York. One of my friends worked for Takashi, who was expanding his studio. Now I am the head of painting at the New York branch of his studio. I am also in charge of conservation and consulting on his art.</p>
<p>In the beginning I worked on smaller paintings&mdash;up to 60 cm. Now they are getting bigger and bigger, as if Murakami were challenging himself by making huge paintings.</p>
<p>First Takashi comes up with an idea. Then a computer team work on it and send us a digital image. We receive it in New York, print it out and put on the silkscreens, then transfer it onto canvas. Then we make sure all colors are right. All the stages we check with Takashi. If he says all is well then we finish it: apply the paint, varnish. It&rsquo;s a collective creative process. The number of people involved depends on the size of the painting. If the painting is small, two painters are enough, but if it&rsquo;s huge, three or four people are required for each painting.</p>
<p><img src="//cdn-ec-static.garagemca.org/storage/tinymce_asset/1/6/1670/file-c25d89cb-44d1-4eb3-84f8-e2c28739fc35.jpg" alt="" width="1327" height="885" /></p>
<p>I work in the studio (basically in New York, but sometimes in Japan, at Miyoshi studio) and look after Murakami&rsquo;s works at big museum shows. If something is damaged my job is to fix that. These are two very different kinds of work: paint production and fixing or conservation.</p>
<p>The exhibition at Garage is quite different from other projects&mdash;mainly because Takashi has decided to recreate his studio at the Museum. It really feels as if we were in his studio that has somehow moved to a different country, and it&rsquo;s very relaxed and really exciting. At the moment we are working on two new paintings: a golden panel and a platinum panel with shining skulls. They will be ready in two weeks.</p>
<p>Other interviews with Murakami&rsquo;s assistants from Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., as well as his other collaborators in charge of painting, sculptures, costumes, and parties, who have spoken to the exhibition&rsquo;s curator Ekaterina Inozemtseva, can be found in the <a href="https://garagemca.org/en/publishing/catalogue-for-takashi-murakami-s-exhibition-under-the-radiation-falls">catalogue for </a><em><a href="https://garagemca.org/en/publishing/catalogue-for-takashi-murakami-s-exhibition-under-the-radiation-falls">Under the Radiation Falls</a>. </em></p>

Takashi Murakami’s team on working with the artist

<p class="text__lead">Japanese artist Takashi Murakami talks about working on the project.</p>
<p>To mark the closing of the exhibition <em>Under the Radiation Falls</em>, Garage published a catalogue, edited by curator Katya Inozemtseva, that features texts by Japanese culture experts Ainura Yusupova and Ryūsuke Hikawa and interviews with the artist and his studio assistants.</p>
<p><span class="text__embed" data-mce-object-adaptive=""><iframe class="text__embed__content" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QV7L5dCZUAs" height="503" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"&gt;</span></p>

Takashi Murakami on his exhibition Under the Radiation Falls at Garage

An audio guide accompanying the exhibition Takashi Murakami. Under the Radiation Falls

<p class="text__lead">Under the Radiation Falls at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is the first major survey of Takashi Murakami's work in Russia and spans several periods of the artist&rsquo;s career from the mid-1990s to now.</p>
<p>Two years in the making, the show takes up almost the entire Museum, so get ready for a long and fascinating adventure through the artist's universe!<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>On view from <a href="https://garagemca.org/en/exhibition/takashi-murakami">September 29 through February 4.</a></p>
<p><span class="text__embed" data-mce-object-adaptive=""><iframe class="text__embed__content" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Za2z-T_hBNE" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></span></p>

Takashi Murakami's invitation to Under the Radiation Falls

<p class="text__lead">&ldquo;What you&rsquo;ll see is a very developed and unique exhibition&rdquo;</p>
<p>Shinichi Kitahara, Exhibition Production Director of Takashi Murakami&rsquo;s company Kaikai Kiki Co. Ltd., speaks about the working on the Takashi Murakami's Under the Radiation Falls at Garage.</p>
<p><a href="https://garagemca.org/en/exhibition/takashi-murakami">On view from September 29.</a></p>
<p><span class="text__embed" data-mce-object-adaptive=""><iframe class="text__embed__content" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Yt40KJEprI" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></span></p>

Installation of Under the Radiation Falls by Takashi Murakami

Tours of Takashi Murakami’s exhibition Under the Radiation Falls

<p class="p1 text__lead">Takashi Murakami&rsquo;s exhibition <a href="https://garagemca.org/en/exhibition/takashi-murakami">Under the Radiation Falls</a> is open at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art until February 4.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p2">We've celebrated the opening of the show at Garage, and with a gala party at Moscow&rsquo;s legendary House of the Unions, featuring performances by the Bolshoi Ballet, DJs, and the J-pop group Dempagumi.inc.</p>
<p><span class="text__embed" data-mce-object-adaptive=""><iframe class="text__embed__content" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_vvsRSizyN4" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></span></p>

Opening Takashi Murakami’s exhibition Under the Radiation Falls

<p class="text__lead">On Instagram, the artist tells the story behind his installation for Garage Atrium and his collaborations with Japanese graffiti artists.</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BZOWYbFgRz1/" data-instgrm-version="8">
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<div style="background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;">&nbsp;</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BZOWYbFgRz1/" target="_blank">A post shared by Garage (@garagemca)</a> on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2017-09-19T13:26:02+00:00">Sep 19, 2017 at 6:26am PDT</time></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Takashi Murakami:</strong> Right now, I am working on preparing an installation piece for my solo show at the Garage (Moscow) <a href="https://www.instagram.com/garagemca/">@garagemca</a> in collaboration with MADSAKI <a href="https://www.instagram.com/madsaki/">@madsaki</a>, his friend, and other Japanese graffiti artists,</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtxObggpW0/" data-instgrm-version="8">
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<div style="background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50.0% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;">&nbsp;</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtxObggpW0/" target="_blank">A post shared by Takashi Murakami (@takashipom)</a> on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2017-09-06T21:45:40+00:00">Sep 6, 2017 at 2:45pm PDT</time></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/fukitalltokyo/">@fukitalltokyo</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tengaone/">@tengaone</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/onezker/">@onezker</a> and have been posting the progress on Instagram. Whenever I post images of MADSAKI's and snipe1&rsquo;s works, some people post &ldquo;TOY&rdquo; or &ldquo;No skill&rdquo; in the comments. I didn&rsquo;t get this, so I asked Takumi Kaseno, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ksnyang/">@ksnyang</a> who handles graffiti-related projects at Kaikai Kiki, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kaikaikikigallery/">@kaikaikikigallery</a> what this was all about. &ldquo;Oh, that means they are dissing these artists,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Graffiti in the US is very refined and they tend to emphasize skill. I think they are dissing the artists from that perspective. But in Europe, the permissive range is wider- while some works are very skillfully executed, there are also artists who make works that are characterized as &lsquo;toy' or &lsquo;trash&rsquo;&mdash;worthless&mdash;but who actively adopt the dirtiness or childishness as their preferred styles. I don&rsquo;t think you should simply take it negatively when someone disses your work as &lsquo;toy.' MADSAKI and snipe1 have both lived in the US for many years, so perhaps they are saying it&rsquo;s pathetic that they haven&rsquo;t managed to prioritize their skills following the American way. But there are others, like UFO, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ufo907/">@ufo907</a> who have always made &lsquo;toy' works; after many years of making such works without any shame, it has become their style. So while probably those commenting on your Instagram posts are dissing the artists, their values aren&rsquo;t absolute."</p>
<p>I see, that makes sense.</p>
<p>But I&rsquo;m more concerned about the artists&rsquo; subjective views, that is: What are the realities for the Japanese graffiti artists? When I met MADSAKI, he was already presenting his &ldquo;Wannabe&rdquo; series, in which he spray painted historical masterpieces on canvas. It was already different from what you think of as street art, and our relationship started when I bought one of his works from this series.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtx8JjgY3W/" data-instgrm-version="8">
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<div style="background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50.0% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;">&nbsp;</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtx8JjgY3W/" target="_blank">A post shared by Takashi Murakami (@takashipom)</a> on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2017-09-06T21:51:55+00:00">Sep 6, 2017 at 2:51pm PDT</time></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When he was younger in the US, he was part of a group called Barnstormers, led by David Ellis, but he had to return to Japan at one point. Back in Japan, he was exploring his style by spraying lewd jokes and fashion logos on small panels because, as I understand it, inventing a style is very important for a graffiti artist. But I think when you start painting on canvas&mdash;that is, when you step into the context of contemporary art&mdash;you are no longer merely talking about style. Of course, artists like the late Basquiat and Keith Haring had their intense styles, but I thought MADSAKI had to dig deeper into the bottom of his heart, to find something like the origin of his creativity. So I discussed this and other things with him and found out that his relationship with his wife was at a precarious place at the time. I then suggested to him that he paint his wife, and that&rsquo;s how his &ldquo;Wife&rdquo; series started. At that point, perhaps you could say he was no longer a street artist or a graffiti artist.</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtxObggpW0/" data-instgrm-version="8">
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<div style="background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50.0% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;">&nbsp;</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtxObggpW0/" target="_blank">A post shared by Takashi Murakami (@takashipom)</a> on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2017-09-06T21:45:40+00:00">Sep 6, 2017 at 2:45pm PDT</time></p>
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<p>The &ldquo;Wife&rdquo; series, painted in his unrefined style, has been very well received, and MADSAKI is gradually gaining confidence of a kind. But to begin with, are refined skills in the street art sense of the word really necessary?</p>
<p>We can&rsquo;t deny that Japanese graffiti began as imitations of American and European graffitis. But there&rsquo;s no rule that says one shouldn&rsquo;t depict mundane themes from one&rsquo;s daily life in graffiti style like MADSAKI does. I think original artistic expressions can emerge when you combine personal narratives and the Japanese graffiti style. In that sense, the comments such as &ldquo;toy&rdquo; and &ldquo;no skill&rdquo; may actually be the gospel that points to the future of Japanese graffiti.</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BY4558QAZqW/" data-instgrm-version="8">
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<div style="background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 38.611111111111114% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;">&nbsp;</div>
<p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BY4558QAZqW/" target="_blank">We done ! at PM1:00 @madsaki @fukitalltokyo @ksnyang @udaikitagawa #kaikaikiki_sewn_department</a></p>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" href="https://www.instagram.com/takashipom/" target="_blank"> Takashi Murakami</a> (@takashipom) on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2017-09-11T05:33:10+00:00">Sep 10, 2017 at 10:33pm PDT</time></p>
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Takashi Murakami on Japanese graffiti

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Opening Takashi Murakami’s exhibition Under the Radiation Falls

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